Saturday, September 20, 2014
week 4 - Some of us have been threatening our friend Colby
For me personally, this story was extremely disturbing to read, mostly because everyone was planning an execution as if it were a wedding. They say they made a big deal out of this because Colby is their friend, but nobody in their right mind would enthusiastically plan their friend's execution. Something tells me that whatever is was Colby did wasn't really that bad. Though he may have "gone too far," I doubt his actions truly called for an execution. If Colby really did deserve an execution then his friends would have gone straight to the authorities, who wouldn't have objected given his actions. These people don't prove to really be Colby's friends. I think the person who steered everyone away from hanging Colby with wire may have felt sorry for him but he wasn't enough of a friend to save his life. If these people truly were Colby's friends, they wouldn't be planning his execution. It also seems as though they've been looking for a reason to kill him since they put so much time and energy into the execution. They never tell us exactly what Colby did wrong, and because everyone made a point to keep this from the authorities they must believe their event would be forbidden if anyone were to find out. Then they have the nerve to call themselves his friends. The people in this story tell Colby that this is his day and everyone is there for him, but when he tries to request different things for the event everyone is rude to him. Nobody seems to highlight the fact that this is an execution until its time for the actual hanging to take place. If they really did believe that they were forced to kill Colby, they wouldn't have been looking forward to this execution as much as they seemed to be. This piece of writing really disturbed me because of the betrayal of friendship, but mainly because of the way an entire celebration was planned around a possibly unnecessary execution.
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I agree with what you said in your last line; that the execution was possibly unnecessary. and i think that in someways thats what makes it all the more horrific that his "friends" where just kind of "eh we want to set an example so we might as well kill Colby". To me It almost feels as though they had pre-planned the execution; almost as if they where expecting one day for someone to "go too far". Maybe thats why Colby is far calmer then we would expect; maybe he had unknowingly planned his own execution with the others. Even knowing that; it doesn't make the story any less disturbing
ReplyDeleteThis piece really disturbed me as well. They were planning the EXECUTION of their friend pleasantly, as if it were no big deal and it is kind of scary. They make all of the plans like it is some big event, like people used to go watch executions centuries ago. They see nothing morally wrong with it, and Colby doesn't make any big deal about it which is really surprising. Also, we never figure out what he did wrong and it probably wasn't even that bad. And they have no authority to decide whether he should die or not. He probably didn't even break the law or anything.
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